The Welcoming by Nora Roberts Page B

to him, he reflected as he inhaled. But she was mistaken. He had made her want, and she had justified her desire for a relative stranger by telling herself she was in love.
    But if it was true . . .
    He couldn’t allow himself to think that way. Leaning back against the headboard, he stared at the blank wall. He couldn’t allow himself the luxury of wondering what it would be like to be loved, and especially not what it would be like to be loved by a woman to whom love would mean a lifetime. He couldn’t afford any daydreams about belonging, about having someone belong to him. Even if she hadn’t been part of his assignment he would have to sidestep Charity Ford.
    She would think of love, then of white picket fences, Sunday dinners and evenings by the fire. He was no good for her. He would never be any good for her. Roman DeWinter, he thought with a mirthless smile. Always on the wrong side of the tracks. A questionable past, an uncertain future. There was nothing he could offer a woman like Charity.
    But God, he wanted her. The need was eating away at his insides. He knew she was upstairs now. He imagined her curled up in the big four-poster, under white blankets, perhaps with a white candle burning low on the table.
    He had only to climb the stairs and walk through the door. She wouldn’t send him away. If she tried, it would take him only moments to break down her resistance. Believing herself in love, she would yield, then open her arms to him. He ached to be in them, to sink into that bed, into her, and let oblivion take them both.
    But she had asked for time. He wasn’t going to deny her what he needed himself. In the time he gave her he would use all his skill to do the one thing he knew how to do for her. He would prove her innocence.
    ***
    Roman watched the tour group check out the following morning. Perched on a stepladder in the center of the lobby, he took his time changing bulbs in the ceiling fixture. The sun was out now, full and bright, bathing the lobby in light as a few members of the tour loitered after breakfast.
    At the front desk, Charity was chatting with Block. He was wearing a fresh white shirt and his perpetual smile. Taking a calculator from his briefcase, he checked to see if Charity’s tallies matched his own.
    Bob poked his head out of the office and handed her a computer printout. Roman didn’t miss the quick, uncertain look Bob sent in his direction before he shut himself away again.
    Charity and Block compared lists. Still smiling, he took a stack of bills out of his briefcase. He paid in Canadian, cash. Having already adjusted the bill to take the exchange rate into account, Charity locked the cash away in a drawer, then handed Block his receipt.
    â€œAlways a pleasure, Roger.”
    â€œYour little party saved the day,” he told her. “My people consider this the highlight of the tour.”
    Pleased, she smiled at him. “They haven’t seen Mount Rainier yet.”
    â€œYou’re going to get some repeaters out of this.” He patted her hand, then checked his watch. “Time to move them out. See you next week.”
    â€œSafe trip, Roger.” She turned to make change for a departing guest, then sold a few postcards and a few souvenir key chains with miniature whales on them.
    Roman replaced the globe on the ceiling fixture, taking his time until the lobby was clear again. “Isn’t it strange for a company like that to pay cash?”
    Distracted from her reservations list, Charity glanced up at him. “We never turn down cash.” She smiled at him as she had promised herself she would. Her feelings, her problem, she reminded herself as he climbed down from the ladder. She only wished the hours she’d spent soul-searching the night before had resulted in a solution.
    â€œIt seems like they’d charge, or pay by check.”
    â€œIt’s their company policy. Believe me, with a small,